Every design to be printed on a semiconductor wafer includes layer markers, for example to identify if each layer has actually been printed or to identify the layer that is currently being analyzed. However, the layer markers often include human readable texts, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, which potentially violate design rules. More specifically, design rules require specific geometry restrictions, such as but not limited to: no 45° angles, no intersecting or overlapping shapes, and no shapes with zero area, as these can cause a higher defect count. Since these restrictions are not maintainable for all designs, waivers have been predefined for a specific set of restrictions for text markers in the design manual.
A common approach to make texts design rule clean involves changing the font of the text. However, the modified text design may then be unreadable to the wafer technician or still not be design rule clean. Additionally the text is not machine readable.
A need therefore exists for methodology and apparatus enabling forming layer markers which include text which are both design rule clean and also human readable.